The Dash Brothers
by PleatherHead
Summary: With the defeat of Verse, Krizalid and Nameless are brought back to life. Together, they travel through the world to search for other resurrected NESTS experiments, including Nameless's lost love Isolde. But unfortunately for them, some old enemies have returned as well. The best chance the two clones have at succeeding lies in teaming up with their genetic base, K'.
1. Reborn Again

Life certainly hadn't turned out as Krizalid expected.

He remembered growing up dirt poor in Ireland during The Troubles. He saw the violence and chaos of humanity, and realized that peace could only be created through order. So when he was 18 years old, he joined NESTS to bring order to the world and save humanity from itself.

Turned out, he was grown in a petri dish. Artificial memories had been implanted into his mind in order to make him agree with NESTS's vision and make him totally loyal to the organization. His mental and physical growth had been artificially accelerated, so while he felt and acted like a grown man in the prime of his life, he was actually no more than a few years old. And NESTS didn't want to save the world, they just wanted to exploit it for themselves.

He remembered his dear sister, Seirah, and how he promised that he would always protect her. And he tried to protect her from K', a clone of his gone rogue.

His memories of Seirah had been real, but they weren't his memories. They were the memories of K'. Because it turned out that K' was the original, and Krizalid was the clone. And the Seirah was already dead. Whip, the woman he thought was Seirah, was actually her clone.

He remembered being told that he was special. That it was his duty to lead the soldiers of NESTS. They were all clones, so of course they were inferior to Krizalid himself, but he still felt a connection to them. Like they were family.

Krizalid was special, but only as a tool that could serve a purpose. And when he failed that purpose, all his soldiers, his family, were killed. And then his superior killed him with a rock. A big rock, but still. Not exactly the most dignified death.

Then Krizalid was brought back to life.

Then Whip, that woman who wore his sister's face, killed him by shooting him through the head.

Life had certainly been cruel to Krizalid.

Except now he was alive again.

How had he been brought back to life this time? Where was he? What was he going to do with his new, third life? Would he have to worry about NESTS hunting him down? What about Ikari? All good questions. But for now, there was only one on Krizalid's mind.

_Where he hell am I going to find some pants?_

Because of course-_of course_-he had been revived wearing absolutely nothing at all. At least he had the luck to be revived in the ocean, and just off the coast of a beach.

Krizalid looked around. Nothing in any other direction but miles of ocean. He cursed, then began making his way to shore.


	2. Escape from the Beach

_/*I'm sorry for the short chapters, but I'm pretty new to writing, and this is all I can manage right now. I will definitely try harder in the future though.*/_

* * *

_Of course I'd be revived naked. The universe made it clear that I don't deserve any dignity when I got killed by a damn rock!_

Krizalid used his hand to protect his eyes from the midday sun as he surveyed the beach. Rather small and not very busy. Boulders at the base of a cliff. Tall grass heading inland. It was perfect.

_Well... thanks goodness for small favors._

Krizalid swam towards the cliff and, making sure no one was around, quickly emerged from the water and took cover behind a boulder.

An cool ocean breeze blew onto Krizalid, and he suddenly felt very cold in... _certain areas_. He reached within for his inner flame and let it flare out a bit, warming him up and evaporating the water off his skin, before he brought it back under control.

_Glad to know that still works._

With his battle suit clearly nowhere to be found, Krizalid had only his inborn ability to wield fire to fall back on. Thankfully, it was more than enough.

_Have to be careful how I use it though. "Dark-skinned, white-haired man with fire powers" is exactly the kind of headline that will bring NESTS and Ikari after me._

Peering from behind the boulder, Krizalid scanned up and down the beach. Only a scant few people along the beach. Some sunning, some walking, and some surfing on small waves. But none close enough that Krizalid could mug for clothes while remaining unseen.

_Come on Kriz, you're a soldier, you know how to survive and you've been in much worse situations than this. Just be patient. An opportunity will present itself eventually._

Krizalid's mind flashed back to all the months of training he had under NESTS, molding him into the commanding officer of their global takeover. However, a sense of unease came over Krizalid.

_Did any of that actually happen? Or are they just more memories implanted in my mind?_

He shook his head.

_Pointless to think about it now. Just concentrate on the present._

Krizalid bided his time behind the boulder for nearly an hour before a promising opportunity began to develop. A family, two adults and some kids, decided to have a lay out a beach tower and have a small picnic at the beach by the cliff. Conveniently close to Krizalid's hiding spot.

After they finished eating, the children went to play in the ocean. And eventually, the adults went to join them. But not before putting their keys, phones, and wallets into the basket. Couldn't lose them in the ocean, after all.

_Perfect! Now I just need a distraction._

He didn't have to wait long before it came. As the family splashed and played in the ocean, a large wave snuck up on them and knocked a few of them off balance. And with their attention on each other and away from the beach, Krizalid had his chance.

_Now!_

Krizalid dashed out from behind the boulder to the picnic spot, wrapped the beach towel around his lower half, picked up the picnic basket, and speed walked away. He glanced back at the family.

_Still distracted. Good._

Krizalid fumbled for the keys in the basket as he made his way into the parking lot. A few other beachgoers passed him on the way. If they suspected anything odd about him, they didn't show it.

_Yeah, that's right. I'm just a regular guy who's had enough of the beach. Nothing suspicious here._

Taking the keys out of the basket, Krizalid found a car remote. Using it, a red SUV a few cars down flashed its headlights.

_Not exactly a fan of stealing a car. But I need it._

He unlocked the car and got in.

_Besides, these guys must have jobs, money, insurance. I'm sure they'll be fine._

The car came to life as he turned the key in the ignition.

_I have... nothing. Nothing at all. Not even clothes on my back._

The stark realization of his situation left Krizalid feeling hollowed out as he drove away.

* * *

_/*OK, I feel kinda bad that I _still _haven't gotten to anything really interesting. I just couldn't think of a way to get from into to action really quickly. __But rest assured, Nameless _will _be introduced in the next chapter, so I'll have someone for Kriz to talk to, instead of just him basically monologuing (K' will be coming much later). And I have some action bits planned for them too. Because why else write about a super soldier teaming up with an assassin if they don't get into some fights?*/_


	3. Man on Fire

_/Terribly sorry for leaving this story without updates for months. A ton of stuff happened, and I got busy with schoolwork. While school is out for now, I don't have long until it starts back up again._

_/And aside from being busy, it was just generally hard to write this because I'm still having trouble finding my "voice" as it were, when it comes to writing, as this is the first time I've ever forced myself to write out a story. I'm starting to feel a bit more comfortable though, so hopefully this becomes easier as I go along._

* * *

Krizalid huffed as he pulled on his shirt for what felt to him like he hundredth time in the past hour. While he was grateful for the clothes he found in the car, and the pants fit well enough, it didn't change the fact that the shirt was obviously intended for someone much smaller than he was.

_Christ. I glad to have some clothes, but it feels like this shirt is going to suffocate me._

Besides the shirt, Krizalid was also becoming irritated with his route. Krizalid knew it wouldn't take long for the owners of the car to report it stolen, so he had to get out of the state, Georgia, of all places, as soon as possible. Krizalid used the car's GPS to plot a course to the nearest state, Florida, which would get him there in just over an hour. But that was by using the highways. Driving a stolen car, likely already reported, Krizalid chose to use rural backroads. While these roads, entirely surrounded by either prairies or forests, were absent of police, they also more than doubled the route's travel time.

_Come on, can't believe how long this is taking. Maybe I should've just taken the highway._

He took a deep breath to calm himself.

_No, Kriz, just focus. Just another hour or so and you're home free. Whatever that means for me right now._

As Krizalid drove around a curve in the road, another car appeared in front of him. One which didn't seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere. Krizalid slowed down behind it.

_Well, great. Now I'm stuck behind a slowpoke._

Krizalid drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. His eyes flicked to the GPS. His travel time had just increased by two minutes. His fingers drummed harder.

_If it weren't for that family, this wouldn't be happening. If they didn't report the car, I'd be on the highway. If I was on the highway, I'd be out of the state. If I was out of the state, I wouldn't be worried about cops._

He took another deep breath. His fingers stopped drumming.

_I should've just killed them._

It was so obvious. Why hadn't he thought of it before? Krizalid imagined how he would've done it. There were two adults and, what, two kids? Three? Didn't matter.

The adults would be the hardest, of course. But they didn't look like fighters. Snapping their necks wouldn't take any time at all. Maybe he would've found a rock and bludgen their heads in.

The children would be easy. They were so young, a few strong blows would finish them, weapon or no. But if that didn't work, throttling the life out of them would do just as well.

And that wasn't even considering his flames. At full power, he could've easily fried them all. The heat would cause the fat in their bodies to bubble up through the skin, leaving the flesh underneath to be cooked black. Just imaging it, Krizalid could practically smell the burning bodies. He was quite familiar with the process.

But his powers weren't exactly stealthy. What if someone saw him? No point in getting rid of the family if someone else reported him. So he'd just have to get rid of that person too. And if someone saw that? Well, it was just as NESTS had taught him. Killing was always the easiest solution to a problem. And for as much as Krizalid hated NESTS now, he couldn't disagree with their logic.

There weren't many people at the beach. Maybe 20. He could've used his powers to kill every single one of them. It would take a while, and it would be tiring, but it could be done. The entire beach would be turned into a charred mass grave, but there would be no one to report him.

_And I never would've had to worry about getting caught by the police._

Yet, something inside Krizalid protested the idea. It was a feeling he had at the beach too. It had restrained him from killing the family in the first place. But why?

_Because you weren't strong enough._

The thought echoed through Krizalid. It was the same thing he told K' when he hesitated on a kill. Krizalid had hated him for that. Thought it was a sign of K''s inferiority as a clone, to hesitate where Krizalid did not. But then it turned out the other way around. It was Krizalid who was a clone of K' the whole time. Created to help NESTS take over the world, it made sense then why he didn't hesitate.

_Because I'm just a weapon. And a weapon doesn't hesitate or question its orders._

Krizalid shook his head, trying to free it of thoughts of the past. His introspection could wait. First, he had to get out of the state. And luckily, the other car had taken another path, out of Krizalid's way.

_Finally! No more obstacles, no more distractions. Let's get the hell out of here already!_

Just before he sped up again, Krizalid spotted a blood-red blotch that stood out against the green of the forest. As he drove closer, he realized what it was. A wildfire.

_Oh great, don't tell me I'll have to turn around..._

Krizalid turned his head to observe the fire's path through the forest.

_Hmm, looks like it's just inside that forest for now. Think I can keep driving along this road. Good thing, too. One more problem, and I would-_

A sudden impact against the car interrupted Krizalid's thoughts. The car screeched to a halt as he stopped, and there was a great sloshing sound coming from the back. Growling with frustration, Krizalid lept out of the car.

_Of course I hit something the second I look away! Just my luck!_

As soon as Krizalid got out of the car, he saw what he'd driven into. It was a teenaged boy. He was on fire, and strangely, lacked any clothes whatsoever.

Krizalid breathed a sigh of relief.

_Oh good. If all I hit was this scrawny punk, the car should be just fine._

He quickly scanned the front of the car. There was no damage at all.

Satisfied, Krizalid turned to get back into the car. He still had time to make up for after being stuck behind the slowpoke. He also wasn't interested in getting caught in a forest fire.

But as he made his way to the door, he looked at the boy once more. Still lying face-down on the pavement, it seemed that he hadn't moved.

_This moron's going to get run over if he doesn't wake up soon._

He stopped, hand on the door.

_And I am the one who hit him..._

"Hey, idiot!" he said to the boy. "Get out of the road. Unless you want to be run over."

No response. Krizalid rolled his eyes. He walked over to the boy and kneeled down in front of him.

"You're still alseep, aren't you? Well, wake up!" Krizalid shouted.

Still nothing. Krizalid grit his teeth.

"Moron!" he continued "I said wake up!" As Krizalid spoke, he reached out to the boy's shoulder, intent on shaking him awake.

As soon as he made contact, the bright red flames on the boy's body intensified, then trailed up Krizalid's arm.

Krizalid fell back in surprise. Through a combination of counteracting with his own flames as well as flailing his arm, he managed to put the fire out. Krizalid looked back at the boy.

_He's another flame user! But he can't control his flames. No way he could survive this long without something to suppress his powers. Could it be? Is he another clone?_

All Krizalid needed was a good luck at the boy's face to confirm his suspicions. Knowing what to expect, he reach out to the boy's shoulder and flipped him over quickly. After putting out the boy's flames again, Krizalid took a look at this face.

Krizalid's heart skipped a beat. He'd expected to see Kyo's face, the face that all his "brothers" had, courtesy of the Japanese dropout.

Instead, Krizalid saw his own face. Or, more accurately, the face of K'. But, while the face was the same as Krizalid's, other things about the boy were different. He was pale, in stark contrast to Krizalid's and K''s own, heavily tanned complexion. His hair was also brown unlike theirs, though there was a patch that had a similar shade of white.

_So, he's another K clone, just like me. But why is he so different? And why are his flames different too?_

Krizalid's ears pricked up as he heard sirens in the distance. The wildfire had attracted attention that he'd rather avoid. The questions would have to wait. He'd ask the boy what he knew when he woke up.

_But first, I have to figure out a way to get this kid out of here. With the flames he generated, he'd probably end up burning through the car. Do I have anything that can cool him down?_

Krizalid opened the back of the car, and his eyes snapped to the large cooler. Besides some plastic containers of food, it was mostly full of ice and water. The water was nearly freezing, and it looked to be just large enough to fit the boy's body.

_Guess this explains the sloshing sound I heard earlier. Whatever, it'll do for now._

Krizalid, trying to minimize the amount of contact he had with the boy, threw him into the cooler. The body bounced against the cooler's lid before falling down into it, with the lid coming down on top of him. As soon as the boy made contact with the ice and water, clouds of steam burst forth, fogging up the windows.. When the steam died down, Krizalid checked the boy again. No more spontaneous combustion, though the body was still quite warm. All the ice in the cooler had evaporated. The water was lukewarm, and still heating up.

_Damn. Guess I'll need some more ice if I don't want you turning into a match again._

Krizalid listened for the sirens. They were much closer this time.

_Hope this is good enough for you, kid. Now let's get out of here and get you some ice._

* * *

_/It's not said explicitly in the text, but that boy is Nameless._

_/Sorry if parts of this chapter felt a bit tonally dissonant with the previous chapters. But I kind of want to hammer home that Krizalid did some messed up stuff when he worked for NESTS. It'll come up a few more time, with Nameless in the next chapter, and K' in a later one._


	4. Wake Up!

_/Wow, how long has it been since the last chapter? Three and a half months? Well, shit. Anyway, here you go._

* * *

Krizalid opened the trunk and looked down at the cooler. It had been a few hours since he'd tossed in its occupant, the young K' clone Krizalid had accidentally hit with the car. Krizalid debated with himself exactly how to go about waking up the clone, who would no doubt be rather displeased about being hit with a car. And an angry flame user with flames even hotter than Krizalid's own wasn't something he was looking forward to dealing with. But it had taken Krizalid longer to reach their current destination than he had anticipated, shadows long and skies red as the sun descended into the horizon. And every minute lost was another minute until the clone's flames went out of control again.

_Well, might as well do this sooner rather than later._

Krizalid reached out and knocked on the top of the cooler. "Hey kid, wake up."

No response. Krizalid rolled his eyes.

_Oh, seriously? Is this kid another brat like K?_

Krizalid knocked on the cooler again, harder this time. "Come on, you've slept enough. Now wake up!"

Still no response. Krizalid squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose.

_Goddamnit! I finally get around to waking him up, and he just decides he won't do it._

If this had been anyone else, Krizalid would've lost his patience already, dragging them out and throwing them on the ground. He'd done it plenty of times to K', and even a few times to some of the Kyos. Kyo 14 was the worst about that. But they had been under Krizalid's command. They disobeyed his order to wake up, so of course he'd tossed them to the floor. He wouldn't be able to command his men well if he let them just do as they please.

_But this kid isn't one of my men. He's probably not even a soldier. Just a lab rat NESTS experimented on to see how far they could push the Kusanagi flames._

Krizalid a deep breath to calm himself and opened the cooler. The clone was there, sleeping soundly, ice and water rising up to his chest.

Krizalid placed a hand on the clone's head and attempted to shake him awake. Again, no response. Krizalid frowned, patience rapidly diminishing. He shook harder. "Listen, kid," he began. "If you don't wake up right now, I will pull you out of there and drag you to that NESTS lab, so help me-" The clone's eyes snapped open.

Krizalid smiled, quite pleased that the clone had woken up. "Well, well. Look who finally decided to wake up."

The clone looked up at him with panicked eyes. "Did you say-" He struggled to get everything out, his voice low and shaky. He swallowed and tried again. "Did you say you would take me to a NESTS lab?"

"Yeah, that's right." Krizalid responded. "So get out of there alread-" One of the clone's fists launched up from the water, aimed at Krizalid's jaw. It caught Krizalid off guard, only his battle-hardened instincts allowing him to catch it in time, the fist coming an inch from his face.

Krizalid's inner flames intensified at the prospect of a fight. Krizalid grinned. "Ready for a fight as soon as you wake up? I like that attitude." Krizalid pushed the clone's fist away from his face and released it. "But you should save that energy for NESTS."

The clone stared at Krizalid with wide-eyed disbelief. "You want... to fight NESTS? But you're-"

Krizalid cut him off before he could finish. "A NESTS clone like you. Sure. But NESTS decided to mistreat me. So now I want to destroy them." He nodded at the clone. "And you?"

The clone took a moment to respond, debating with himself whether or not he should trust the man in front of him. Trust won out. "NESTS mistreated me. I'd like to destroy them too."

"Alright. But first, we need to get into there." Krizalid pointed to something in the distance. The clone leaned out of the cooler to see what it was. It looked like a nondescript utility building, a simple gray slab of concrete and metal poking out of the ground, with a simple fence surrounding it.

"That's a NESTS lab?" the clone asked. He looked back at Krizalid, unsure.

"Yeah. Or something like it anyway." Krizalid met the clone's gaze with a reassuring smile. "Trust me. I was the commander of all NESTS's clone forces." He tapped the side of his head with a finger. "So I know where all these little NESTS facilities are. Places where they grew some clones. And equipped them too."

It took a while before the clone caught the implication. He looked down at his left hand then back at Krizalid before he ventured a guess. "Power dampeners."

Krizalid nodded in approval. "Exactly. There are bound to be some in there, and we can use those to prevent your flames from going out of control again." He looked down into the cooler and frowned. "And we should probably get on that. Looks like we're running out of time."

The clone looked down into the cooler to see what Krizalid meant. He realized that all the ice that had been in the cooler with him minutes ago had melted. His flames were coming back to life. They were running out of time.

The clone then realized that he was also stark naked and had nothing to cover himself with. He blushed in embarassment and meekly tried to cover himself with his hands.

Krizalid's head reared back in laughter. "Come on, kid," he made in-between chuckles. "We're cloned from the same person. There's nothing down there I haven't seen before." Krizalid moved to the backseat of the car to retrieve something. "Here, you should put on some clothes." He returned and held out some clothes to the clone.

"But I still need to dry-" was all the clone could make out before Krizalid grabbed him by the shoulder and sent a surge of heat flowing through him. It took only a few seconds for the heat to completely evaporate all the water in the cooler and dry off the clone. "Thanks," said the clone, somewhat shaken by the sudden, full-body combustion.

"No problem." The clone wasn't changing, and Krizalid guessed it was because he was still shy. Krizalid chuckled. "Fine. I'll turn around for you then." He did so, and heard the clone begin to change behind him. Satisfied, Krizalid began to make smalltalk. "My name's Krizalid, by the way. What's yours?"

"I don't have a name," the clone replied.

"Really? NESTS didn't bother giving you a name?"

"No."

"Well, how about you give yourself one then? Have anything in mind?"

The sound of the clone's changing stopped. "No."

Krizalid frowned. "You're not very talkative, are you?" Krizalid turned around to get a good look at the clone. And as soon as he did, he put a hand up to his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter. He failed.

The clone looked absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately for him, the only clothes that would fit him after Krizalid had taken the man's clothes were the woman's, and they were not flattering. A cream camisole that hung loose from the clone's chest as he lacked the obvious "assets" it was shaped for. And a pair of dark shorts that extended only a few inches below his hips.

"I look ridiculous," the clone said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah," Krizalid admitted, voice high from his laughing fit. "Yeah, you do."

"Is there... _anything_ else for me to wear?"

"Sorry kid. The only other clothes that fit are the ones I'm wearing." Krizalid pointed to his own, rather tight-fitting and uncomfortable shirt.

"Could we-" the clone began to question.

Krizalid icily replied "No," while fixing the clone with a stern look. He looked rather disappointed at that.

Krizalid rolled his eyes. "There are bound to be some better clothes inside, OK?" He began walking towards the NESTS facility. "Now come on and let's get this over with." The clone followed after him.

* * *

_/Nameless and Krizalid begin their grand quest to get better clothes. I mean, defeat NESTS. Yeah. But for real, I haven't forgotten about my chapter summary. I will bring up Isolde sometime in the next few chapters._

_/...Whenever those chapters happen to be, since school starts back up again pretty soon. I will try to at least put something out during that time so that gap between chapters isn't quite so large. But I can't make any promises. Sorry._


	5. Two Brothers

_/* GOOD LORD this took me forever to do. Except apparently I got this out faster than any of the other chapters after the first? Well, it felt like a long time, and it ended up being the longest chapter so far by a wide margin. Anyway, here you go. */_

* * *

Krizalid entered a series of numbers into the door's keypad. The keypad emitted a green light and the door clicked as it unlocked. Krizalid smiled and opened the door. Something finally went right for him today.

Granted, he was entering a facility meant to restock his men while they worked to take over the world on behalf of a cartel that that he now hated, but he'd take what he could get.

Krizalid entered, the clone behind him, and closed the door.

On the inside, dim lights illuminated bare, concrete walls covered in pipes and gauges, trying to make the interior as boring and complicated as possible to dissuade the average observer from looking too closely at anything.

Krizalid reached behind a pipe, which appeared just as innocuous as its neighbors, and pulled on a hidden lever. The section of the wall that the pipe was attached to swung open, revealing a hidden ladder that descended below.

They climbed down and found another keypad. The door it was attached to was made from thick, reinforced steel, and was far sturdier than the one at the entrance. Krizalid entered another code and opened this door as well.

While the room above was dim and discrete, the hallway beyond the opened door was exactly the opposite. Bright lights flooded the hallway with light, reflecting off the steel interior. A few more doors lined the walls, likely leading to rooms of equipment and rations. It had NESTS written all over it.

The clone shuddered at Krizalid's side. Krizalid looked at him with concern. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Yes. It's just..." The clone swallowed. "This place... it reminds me of the labs."

The clone hadn't talked much about his past, but Krizalid could easily guess that it wasn't pleasant. Most things involving NESTS never were. "We won't be here long. We'll get you some power dampeners, some new clothes, and then we'll leave." Krizalid moved to the nearest door and opened it. "And speaking of..." His voice trailed off. The clone peaked over his shoulder to see what he found.

It was a garage, and in the middle was a white van. It was large, and could probably hold at least six people inside. Before it was a ramp that ended in the ceiling. Judging by the design, the clone guessed that it opened outwards and lead outside.

"We'll be using that from now on. I had to steal the last car and the cops are probably looking for it by now." He moved to another door and the clone followed. "But they won't be looking for that van."

Krizalid opened the door to reveal- "Clothes!" he shouted. "Oh, thank God!" He immediately burned off the clothes he was wearing, car keys falling to the ground, with a brief burst of flame. Krizalid looked back, seemingly unaware that his current state bothered the clone. "Check the other doors for power dampeners and put them on. I'll bring some clothes for you." The clone nodded and moved on to the next door.

The first door he checked held food and water. But the second had what he was looking for. On a shelf were a number of power dampeners, mechanical gloves designed to suppress the natural powers of flame users. Items the clone would need to survive, since his own flame was so powerful it would eventually consume him if left unrestrained.

The clone grabbed two off the shelf and stared at them. They were a solid blue color and were about his size. He slipped one onto his left hand and he gasped. As soon as he put it on, he could feel the difference it made. His inner flame, which had been steadily growing in strength since he'd awoken, had died down significantly. But even then, he could feel it continuing to grow again. He'd definitely need both. He put on the other dampener and felt his flame die down even more. Good. It felt like it was enough to bring his flame down to a manageable level.

The dampeners reminded the clone of the gauntlet he used to wear. The gauntlet had been even more powerful than the dampeners, negating his inner flame entirely. And it was also his greatest weapon. It could morph quickly and easily into a number of different forms. This often caught his opponents off-guard, allowing him to end their lives easily. But for everything the gauntlet could do, it came at a terrible price.

Her. Isolde. A shiver wracked the clone's body. He hadn't thought about her since he came back. Surprising, given how often he usually thought of her. Since the day he met her, there wasn't a single day that he didn't think about her. She was what kept him alive all this time. Through the brutal experiments of NESTS and his own flames threatening to consume him, the thought of her made him push harder to survive. Because she was the one thing in the clone's life worth living for.

Then one day, she vanished. He never saw her again after that, but he thought of her every day just the same. Soon after, he was given his gauntlet. He hadn't realized the connection between Isolde and the gauntlet until much later. One of his targets was a NESTS defector. He told the clone everything he knew, thinking it might be enough for the clone to let him live. So the clone learned about Isolde and her fate. That she had died during the experiments, and her body... somehow, it was used to construct the gauntlet that he wore. The clone didn't fully understand the process behind it, but he didn't need to. All he needed to know was that a part of her was with him. And maybe, just maybe, he could use that part of her to bring her back. After all, it seemed that there was little the NESTS scientists couldn't accomplish.

The clone murdered the traitor, keeping what he had learned to himself, pretending to NESTS that he was perfectly obedient. Really he was biding his time, waiting for an opporunity to slip into the labs and use whatever remained of Isolde in the gauntlet to bring her back to life. Meanwhile, he kept fulfilling the assassination missions he was given. He killed dozens of people, maybe over a hundred. He didn't want to kill them, knew it was wrong to. But he did it anyway. All for the chance of bringing her back.

And now all their lives had been wasted for nothing. A wave of sadness threatened to wash over the clone as he made the realization. He closed his eyes, grit his teeth, tensed his body in order to resist unleashing his emotions. The same way he had for years. But this time he failed. Tears began to stream down his face. He sobbed, and brought his hands up to his mouth to try and stop the sounds from coming out. He was worthless. All he did throughout his life was bring death and suffering to others. The world would've been far better if he had never been born.

The guilt brought pain. A dull kind of pain, yet it seemed to penetrate to his very core. It felt like he was hollow. As though his insides had been torn out. He fell to his knees, doubled over in pain too great to handle. The sobbing had only become worse, escalating into full-on bawling. A flood ran down from his eyes and his nose, splashing to the ground in a puddle. Strange noises escaped his mouth, sounding more like something that would come out of an animal than out of any human. What was the point of his existence? Had he been brought back just to suffer? To know that the one bright spot to his bleak life was lost to him now?

The answer dawned on him. Yes. Of course he was meant to suffer. The pain that ran through his body, his throat, his eyes, he deserved all of it and more. Yes, more. He should take off the dampeners right now. Pour as much energy into his flame as he could, finally allow it to consume him as it had come close to doing countless times. He'd be cooked alive, turned into a puddle on the floor, the same as so many of his victims. It's what he deserve-

The clone heard a thump behind him that nearly made him jump. He quickly wiped his face with his hands, stood up, and turned around to face Krizalid. He was wearing black leather... well, everything. Boots, pants, shirt, jacket, and gloves, all the same shade of pitch black. He held some clothes in one hand, and next to him on the floor were some duffle bags.

Krizalid looked at the clone with a face full of concern. "Hey. Are you alright?" he asked softly.

"Yes. I'm f-fine," the clone stammered. He nodded towards the duffel bags. "What's in there?"

Krizalid frowned. He could tell the clone was lying to him. His flubbered delivery, attempt to change the subject, and his face... He'd tried to wipe it off, but it was clear to Krizalid that the clone had been crying his heart out. _Something_ had clearly upset him. And Krizalid had to find out what.

Krizalid thought back to K'. He remembered finding him crying a few times. He asked K about it, demanded that he be told what K had been crying about, only for K to rebuff him every time. And every time, Krizalid responded with force. K would continue to keep the information to himself, angering Krizalid who responded with more force, until eventually K couldn't speak, lying on the ground and moaning in pain.

But that clearly hadn't produced any results. K kept his secrets to himself, hated Krizalid even more, then eventually left NESTS and returned only to beat Krizalid at what he thought was the height of his power. Which he was then killed for. No, better to try a different approach here.

Krizalid placed his hand onto the clone's shoulder. "Look, I don't know what you're going through. But if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here for you. For, you know... whatever." Krizalid cringed inside. He hated talking about emotions. It was always awkward for him, even with his sister. But he'd put it with it for kid. Someone had to look out for him, and it wasn't like anyone else was going to do it. "Besides, we're cloned from the same person. That makes us brothers. And brothers look out for each other, right?"

The clone was taken aback by this. He hadn't expected Krizalid to be so willing to talk. He couldn't imagine anyone from NESTS doing the same. After all, they only looked at him as a weapon, not as a person. "R-right." He nodded in agreement. They were brothers after all. "Well, I... I-" he began. Should he divulge all his feelings to Krizalid, here and now? The guilt, the pain, the longing for Isolde? "I'll think about it," he answered. No. Better not to saddle someone else with his own problems.

"Alright. Well, that's... that's all I ask." An awkward silence passed where neither of them spoke. "Anyway, you need to get out of those clothes." He pointed to the women's clothing that the clone was still wearing. "I'm sick of seeing you in them."

"Oh, right." The clone waited a moment, hoping that Krizalid would turn around. He didn't. "Well, could you please turn around?"

Krizalid quirked an eyebrow. "Again with this? We're cloned from the same person. Like I said, you don't have anything I haven't seen before." The clone opened his mouth to speak, but Krizalid cut him off. "I mean, the colors are a bit different." Krizalid indicated the stark white portion of the clone's otherwise brown hair. "And I didn't expect the carpet to match the drapes."

"Fine! Just please stop talking!" the clone said, flustered and embarassed at the talk of his hair.

The clone concentrated on bringing out his flame. It felt odd to him with the dampeners on. The gauntlet he used to wear completely nullified his powers, so wielding his flame had been an awkward process of taking the gauntlet off to fire off a short burst at full strength before putting it back on. With the dampeners, the flame was still there at all times, just much weaker than before.

Careful not to unleash too much at once, the clone allowed a small amount of his flame to come out. Nothing happened. He allowed a bit more to come out. Still nothing happened. The dampeners were certainly living up to their name. The clone decided to push at his inner flame this time, not just allowing the flames to come out passively. Soon he was wreathed in flames, the clothes burning to ashes.

"So? How does it feel?" Krizalid asked.

"It felt great," the clone recplied. "But first, um... clothes, please?" Krizalid handed over the clothes he was carrying in his hand. A sleeveless shirt, long pants, and shoes, all dark blue leather, as well as underwear and socks. The clone put them on, talking as he did so. "Normally I'm always fighting to contain my flame. Whenever I needed it before, I usually just let go and the flames would come out by themselves. But with the dampeners, I have to push the flames out instead."

"Glad to hear you like them." Krizalid bent down to pick up the duffel bags he'd dropped earlier. "When you're done, meet me in the garage. It's about time we get out of here."

When the clone was finished dressing he entered the garage to find Krizalid sitting in the car, studying something rather intently. The clone got into the passenger side and saw what Krizalid was staring at. A GPS, built into the car's dashboard.

"Kid, do you know anything about a 'Second South Town?'" Krizalid asked.

"No. Why do you ask?" The clone glanced behind him. The duffel bags were in the back. He guessed that Krizalid had filled them with rations.

"Well, this GPS has a destination, and it's in this Second South Town." Krizalid hit a button on the car's center console. The roof of the garage began to open at an angle, which would allow the car to drive up the ramp to the surface. "I know a little about the first South Town, that's where Terry Bogard is from. But I didn't know about a second one." Krizalid started the car and began driving up the ramp.

"This destination. Are we going there?"

"Oh, hell yes we are." It was dark out. Night had fallen, and probably some time ago too. Krizalid switched on the headlights. "It's in this GPS for a reason. And knowing NESTS, it's either another NESTS base. Or..." Krizalid drove past the stolen car and tossed its keys onto the hood. "Or it's someone they want eliminated." The mention sent a small shiver down the clone's spine. "And if that's the case, then saving them is bad news for NESTS. And I'm all for causing bad news for them." He glanced at the clone. "How about you?"

The clone thought for a moment. Of all the people he'd "eliminated," all the lives he'd ruined. And now he had the chance to save lives? Maybe even destroy NESTS by doing so? It wasn't even a question for him. "Yes. Definitely."

Krizalid chuckled. "Alright then. Let's go... brother." Together, the two drove off into the night.

* * *

_/* Hope you enjoyed. This changed a ton from my original idea. Ended up being a lot more emotional for Nameless than I originally thought. But I like how it came out. As someone who's had problems dealing with feelings of guilt in the past (nothing serious), I wanted to show that Nameless's state of mind isn't the best right now. But he has a bro now, so maybe he'll open up and get that weight off his chest. Maybe. */_

_/* Oh, and some continuity stuff. Since it seems that SNK doesn't really name much of the tech that NESTS uses, the "gauntlet" mentioned for Nameless is that big clawed device that covers his arm in 2002. And the "power dampeners" is what I decided to call the gloves worn by K' and Kula Diamond. Yeah, it sounds like a TV Tropes term, but it's descriptive and it works. Anyway, Nameless has gloves exactly the same as theirs now, just colored differently. Blue in this case, as a small nod to K9999, who had a blue one too. */_

_/* And about Second South Town, that's the city that was created after South Town was blasted by NESTS's Zero Cannon in 2000. Krizalid was unaware of it because he was killed (the first time) in 1999, and I think it's unlikely that he was informed about it when he was revived by the original Zero. */_

_/* Anyway, for the next chapter, K' is finally going to show up. I mean, it's about time, right? He's the reason this fic is called "The DASH Brothers" after how his name is pronounced, "Kay-DASH". So please look forward to that. */_


End file.
